This high pass traverses between the Culebra and the Sangre De Cristo
mountain range
of south-central Colorado. Culebra is Spanish for "snake" and like the
name implies, the mountains are winding and rugged. The area has always been
difficult to explore and it remains that way today. Wildlife still flourishes
with the likes of bears, mountain lions, bobcats, elk and deer.

The La Veta Pass Route of the D&RG railroad describes the
track traveling from Pueblo to
Alamosa. This is a very scenic journey and the
railroad did its best to capitalize on the fact. Even the railroad's slogan
"Scenic Line of the World" was coined to describe the magnificent
sights along the way. This was the first high mountain pass the D&RG built
over and they were not afraid to brag about its features. It was exclaimed
around the world as an engineering marvel.

Tracks were first laid on the pass in 1877. It was the General's intention to
build west into the San Luis Valley and the San Juan mining districts beyond. So
he put his builders to work on miles of cuts, fills and wooden trestles. The
grade up the western slopes is well over 3 percent and that is getting fairly
steep for the locomotives of the day.

When the conversion to standard gauge track took place in 1899, the difficult
section over the pass was relocated from "Veta Pass" to "La
Veta" (now Fir) further south. The steep grades were lowered to 3 percent. Three
new tunnels were constructed on the east side of the pass. These were labeled
the lower, middle and upper tunnels. In 1929 the upper tunnel caught fire and
caved in. Instead of trying to clear the tunnel the railroad cut through the
tunnel roof along its length and "daylighted" the tunnel.

The La Veta route tended to carry goods into and out of the San Luis and San
Juan areas and was always of a more local nature. Other routes on the line
relayed goods from one end to the other while the La Veta route served the
regional area only. Due to the way the schedules would be worked out, the trains
mainly traveled over the route at night.

A stone depot was constructed at the summit and is still standing today.